A/N: Beta by Navigator101, updated on 10/17/18.

Chapter 3

It's your life. Don't let anyone make
you feel guilty for living it your way.

- Unknown

Garp had taken the boys to an island to do some shopping. He'd changed out of his marine uniform and into his 'vacation' clothes, consisting of a brightly colored tropical shirt, long shorts, and sandals.

Sabo was grateful they found clothes similar to the ones he'd worn before. They were comfortable to him, not to mention he had missed his top hat which was also replaced. The crazy old man may be crazy, but he did remember what the boys liked wearing, even after all that time away from them.

It was a great bonding time to make up for the years they missed, not that Garp was with them that often before, something the old man regretted. Their grandpa had taken them to store after store, buying them just about anything they asked for. Though it was mostly necessities.

The group was about to walk past a toy store, but Luffy had stopped to look at the window full of things that would interest kids their age.

"Why don't we go in?" Without waiting for an answer, Garp herded them into the store, letting them stroll around looking at whatever caught their fancy.

Luffy's eyes were so wide at all the new things he was seeing that he didn't notice his two brothers leaving him behind to look at something else. Garp had stayed with the youngest to watch over him with a sad smile on his face. The grief he felt when he learned that his own grandchild, whom he had never gotten to meet, had been kidnapped had been overwhelming. When he learned the two other grandchildren he'd adopted were also taken a year later, he didn't let anything stop him from looking for them, leaving no stones unturned. Two years later, he finally stopped, grieving his loss.

Now that he'd gotten all three back, he was going to leave them again. At least this time he knew where they were, and that they would be safe there. But the look of wonder and excitement over every little thing on Luffy's face made his heart ache, wanting to be there for them every step of their growth. With the government actively hunting down his idiotic son, there was no way they would be able to live in peace like a normal family. Not that living with pirates would make things normal.

He followed Luffy around the small store as the kid looked at everything in fascination, until they stopped at a wall of stuffed animals. He noticed the kid staring at a stuffed dog that was at his eye level.

Luffy tentatively moved his hands to touch it and a large smile grew on his face. He picked it up and rubbed it against his face, enjoying the feel of the soft, plush material.

"You want that, brat?" Luffy nodded and giggled with the dog clutched tightly to his face. "All right. Let's go find your brothers and pay for that." He gave the kid a light pat on the back.

Later Luffy stopped in front of another store, this time bringing confusion to the other three's faces.

"Luffy, there's nothing you'd want in there," Ace said slowly as he carefully looked through the store window to see what caught his brother's eyes.

"Want," the three of them looked at what the boy pointed to.

"Luffy, that's a dress," Sabo said uncertainly. "I know you've worn them before, but dresses are for girls. You're a boy."

"Want," Luffy said insistently. "Pretty!"

"What?" Garp all but yelled at his grandson's taste in clothing. "You think that thing is pretty?! The one next to it is much prettier!"

This time Ace and Sabo looked at the frilly pink dress their grandpa pointed to in horror. "No!"

"PRETTY!" Luffy continued to point at the other, less frilly, pale green dress.

The two boys looked on in embarrassed amusement as the oldest and the youngest of their group argued about which dress looked prettier. Giving up on the ridiculous argument, they pickpocketed their grandpa and went in the store to buy the dress Luffy wanted and a couple others. Why not? Luffy'd never been this assertive about wanting anything before (besides the whole ball incident), so what's the harm in indulging him?

They came back to see that the arguing duo had garnered an audience. Ace glared at the ones giving his brother a disgusted look. What was so wrong with his brother wanting to wear a dress? Sure he, himself, wouldn't be caught dead in one, but that's his little brother!

Sabo only heaved a sigh and announced that they'd already bought the dress for Luffy. So Gramps should just give it up, and let Luffy wear what he wanted.

Now, they were on an uninhabited island full of huge foliage, waiting for Whitebeard to pick them up. Garp had left them on their own after a quick sparring match with them. He'd taken time off for too long and had to get back to work. The spar left the man with knowledge that the boys would be able to take care of themselves. Though, Ace and Sabo were pretty sure the old man just wanted to beat them up for old-time's sake. They were just glad that Luffy was left out of it.

Just before he left, Garp sat down with Ace on the beach, while Sabo and Luffy were off playing in the shallow parts of the water.

"Ace," the man started solemnly, "your father ...," he heaved a sigh and paused, thinking of how to tell his grandson. "Gol D. Roger wasn't captured by me. He was already dying when he turned himself in. While he was in prison, he told me about your mother and asked me to protect the unborn you. Remember when you asked me if it was good that you were alive?" Ace could only nod numbly as he listened to his grandfather.

"I still stand by my answer. You'll only know by living. When I first held you, Ace, I knew right then, that I'd protect you as if you were my own grandson. It didn't matter that you weren't my blood. To me, you are my grandson, just as Luffy and Sabo are. I know I wasn't there for you much but believe me when I say I was only doing what I thought was best. I raised you and Sabo both to be strong marines, just so you would be where I could watch over you. But with how things turned out, I think living out your dream to be a pirate is the next best plan. At least with Whitebeard, I know you'll be safe."

Ace threw himself at the old man and gave him a hug, trying to hide the fact that he was tearing up. He was grateful for this man he called Gramps. "Thank you."

Garp placed a hand softly on the boys back. "Just be careful out there and don't get caught. There's only so much I can do for you boys now."

-*/-*/-*/

"I can't believe Garp left those kids on this island of all places," Thatch complained as they neared the island. "I mean, yes, uninhabited, but really? There are tons of dangerous animals here that wouldn't think twice about eating those kids."

Thatch, Marco, and Vista quickly rowed their boat to the beach once they realized the boys weren't waiting where they were told they should be.

"Dammit, where did they go-yoi?" Marco said as he turned his head this way and that to look for them. "Didn't that damn marine tell them this is the only part of the island the animals don't go near-yoi?"

"There!" Vista pointed. "I see smoke. Something must have happened."

The three of them tore through the large foliage towards the direction of the smoke. They stumbled to a stop at a clearing, shocked at what they found. The three boys, now in new, clean clothes (well, two were clean), were sitting around a campfire eating what looked like a tiger two times the normal size.

"What took you guys so long?" Sabo said in between bites.

"Yeah, we got bored," Ace said around a mouthful of meat.

Luffy didn't even acknowledge them as he tore into the meat that he had in each hand. He was the only dirtied one there.

The men stared in amazement at the large piles of bones next to each child and wondered how much these boys could actually eat. With nothing better to do, they sat down with the boys and waited for them to finish eating. They ate some as well just to pass the time.

"Please tell me you don't always eat this much," Thatch whined as the boys finished eating.

"Well, me and Sabo did. Didn't know Luffy could eat that much too," Ace wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Feels like we haven't eaten that much in a long time," Sabo fell to his back, satisfied that his stomach was now filled. "Finally full."

"So you guys took this thing down yourselves?" Vista asked.

"Yeah!" Luffy finally spoke, with much enthusiasm. "I run, and it chase me. Then Ace and Sabo hit it."

"You used your brother as bait-yoi?!" Marco looked at the two in disbelief.

"How else were we supposed to catch a tiger?" Sabo looked at them questioningly. "That's how Dadan used to do it."

"Good lord," Marco swiped his hand down his face. "Anyway, it's time to go. Come on-yoi."

"Aww, want more gator. Yummy," Luffy pouted. During their short time away from the ship, he'd learned to express himself and, to Ace and Sabo's annoyance, become much more demanding.

"NO MORE GATOR!" Ace and Sabo smacked the boy on the head.

"You nearly got eaten, you little shit," Ace yelled at his brother.

"What?!" the three men turned their wide eyes to them.

"Luffy thought they were moving steppingstones and thought it'd be fun to stomp all over them," Sabo grumbled with crossed arms. "One ate him. Then we killed it and pulled him out. He's never allowed near another gator."

The two older boys grabbed the bags of things that Garp had bought for them, and they headed back.

"Oh, yeah," Ace said as they walked up the plank to Moby Dick. "Not sure if this is important, but Gramps says Luffy is seven. We just assumed he was five, since that's how long he's been with us, and he was tiny."

"Seven, huh?" Thatch looked the boy in question up and down. "That's not good. He's way too small for his age. Four or five I would believe. I'll be sure to let Kobato know."

"That's what we thought too. We were bigger than that when we were his age. Might be because he didn't eat enough?" Sabo asked. "All they fed us was bread and water, two times a day."

"We did go around stealing food when we had the chance, though," Ace said.

"And that's how you guys survived-yoi," Marco concluded. That explained why they weren't as malnourished as they could have been. Bread and water was not enough for growing children. "Well, Kobato said you guys are healthy enough. I guess we shouldn't worry too much about his size-yoi."

"We're going to need to restock again soon, if these guys eat like that all the time," Thatch moaned.

"You don't have to. We can eat less. We're fine with the portions you've been giving us," Sabo said.

"We don't want to be a burden after all the trouble we've caused you. I mean, we did kidnap Marco, and you guys are taking care of us. That's already enough."

"It's my job to make sure everyone on this ship eats their fill," Thatch winked at them. "Besides, I already told you that no one goes hungry when I'm in charge. So if you're still hungry, just say so."

"I actually want to know how you kids to managed to kidnap Marco," Vista mused with his hand on his chin in thought.

"Children are less suspicious-yoi," was all Marco grumbled as he led the boys to his room, while Thatch and Vista took the boys' bags to the room they prepared for them. Once there, he handed each of the boys a sheet of paper. "These are your list of chores on this ship. You're free to do them whenever you want-yoi, but they need to all be done at least once a week. You'll also be running various errands as we need-yoi. You can do what you want during your free time."

Luffy turned his sheet sideways and upside down and tilted his head, before he asked Marco, "What this?"

"Sorry," Sabo said and took the paper from the boy to look over with his own. "He can't read. Didn't have anything to teach him with. We'll do these chores together, that way they'll be done faster. Luffy wouldn't know how to do any of these things."

"I see-yoi. In that case I think I can spare some time to help him learn. Come, I'll give you a tour of the ship and show you where everything is. You can start tomorrow since the day's almost over-yoi."

He showed them to the room they had prepared for them while they were gone. It was right across from the First Division Commander's room. "If you need anything, just ask any of the commanders or Pops, though, I'm in charge of you three-yoi."

-*/-*/-*/

As the months passed, the boys were falling into the routine of cleaning, lessons, playing, lazing about, and chasing a naked Luffy after every bath. It didn't take them as long as it first did to do their chores. They even had to teach Luffy many every day things as the days went along.

The ship was huge, which was why Marco had originally split up their chores, with each boy cleaning separate sections of the ship. Now he'd learned that it was much quicker when they worked together. Usually one or the other would get distracted by something and someone would have to get him back on track. Or in Luffy's case, clean up the mess that he made.

Whitebeard was pleased by how fast they were learning to adjust to their new family.

Since it didn't take them nearly as long to finish their chores, they had more free time, and there was only so much they could do on a ship. Now they were bored. So they went to Whitebeard and asked him for a favor, which the captain laughed and agreed to, as long as they told Marco and Blamenco about it.

-*/-*/-*/

The galley was filled with hungry pirates. Noisy as they were, one table in particular went silent as they heard kids laughing underneath them. The group looked under the table and found nothing.

"I could have sworn I heard the kids laughing," Haruta mused.

"So did I," Izo agreed.

They heard it again, this time the two surrounding tables went silent and inspected under their tables as well. Marco grinned. He knew what the boys were up to, but he wasn't going to say anything. The boys wanted to keep this a secret.

"Marco, you know what's going on, don't you?" Thatch accused from beside his brother.

"I don't know what you're talking about-yoi," Marco said as he picked up his empty plate and walked away.

This went on. The men would hear the kids but not see them. More often than the laughs, they could hear the sound of pounding and other tools at work. It was starting to creep some of them out.

"It's like a haunted house," someone said.

When the kids were out and about doing their chores, some would come up and ask the boys what they'd been up to. Their answers were always less than helpful.

"Play hide and seek," would be Luffy's answer.

The other two would just say it's a secret.

They were even more confused when Luffy would show up out of nowhere, but that wasn't what surprised them the most. It was the fact that he would sometimes show up wearing a dress of all things. Not that it didn't look good on him, but Luffy was a boy, right?

"Why is Luffy in a dress?" Vista asked the first morning over breakfast.

"Why not?" Ace shrugged.

"He said it was pretty, so Gramps 'bought' it for him," Sabo explained. "He has more than one. We're not going to stop him from wearing what he wants. Getting him to remember to wear clothes is bad enough."

The commanders at the table nodded and said no more. Besides, Izo liked to wear female kimonos, so what's the difference?

Each time they reached an island under Whitebeard's protection, the boys would run off on their own after being told when the ship would leave. And each time, Marco would hand them a small pouch of money to spend. They would always tell him that they'd pay him back, but Marco didn't mind. He was a pirate. He had more where that came from, and when he ran out, well, let's just say he knew just how to get more.

The boys would always come back covered in dirt, looking like they had the time of their lives and bringing back things they bought on the islands.

On the islands that weren't under their protection, Marco would go with them.

One day, the ship was attacked by an enemy pirate. The stupid kind that thought they could take Whitebeard's head and gain instant fame. They were still in Grand Line, so the enemies were no match for them. Rarely do the stronger ones leave New World, not wanting to lose their place in their journey.

The three boys sat with their backs against the cabin wall, hugging their legs, keeping out of the way, as they watched the battle. They could tell it was horribly one-sided, and the Whitebeard crew was taking their time. Marco told them to stay out of the way, and now they were bored. Then an idea came.

Ace looked to Whitebeard, who was seated in his large chair right next to them, also observing the battle. "Hey, do you mind if we go steal some treasures?" he pointed to the enemy ship.

Whitebeard watched the battle a little longer before answering. "Sure. Just be careful. Yell if you need help."

"Yay!" All three ran to the smaller ship, Ace and Sabo kicking down a couple of pirates along the way.

"Marco," Whitebeard called out.

"Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on those brats," Whitebeard gestured to the ship where the boys went. "They were bored." He answered Marco's questioning look.

Marco walked over to the side of Moby and looked down. He raised an eyebrow at the obviously dead bodies on the deck below. These pirates may be weak by their standards, but the fact that they made it out to Grand Line meant they're a little stronger than your average pirate. He wondered how the boys took those guys down without any weapons on them. Or if someone actually took the time to go down to that ship and kill them first.

As he stood there and thought, he heard light laughter coming from the ship's small cabin. The three boys ran out to the deck and waved at him, grinning from ear to ear. They each had a bag brimming with treasure. So overfilled that at each movement they made, coins would fall out.

"You need help there-yoi?" Marco asked, as Luffy had trouble dragging his bag.

Luffy looked to his bag and back to Marco and nodded. Marco chuckled before jumping down. He relieved the boy of his burden and followed the trio back to their ship. The three ran to Whitebeard with their loot and he followed, curious as to what they were so excited about. They placed their bags in front of the captain.

"Here you go," Ace said.

Whitebeard laughed at the gesture. "We have a rule on this ship: What you take off the enemy is yours. So these treasures are now yours." He laughed some more.

"But we eat a lot," Ace insisted, not wanting him and his brothers to be an inconvenience to the people who were helping them.

"Thatch and his men will rid that ship of their supplies in a bit. Don't you boys worry about a thing," Whitebeard waved them off with a smile. He wasn't about to tell the boys that his sons and daughters usually donated a small share of their loot for supplies. No. These boys were allowed to keep everything.

"Oh. Okay, then," Sabo said, then turned to Marco. "So how much do we owe you?" the boy grinned.

Marco gave a lazy smirk and opened the bag he carried and took out a small handful of gold coins. "This much should be enough-yoi."

"You sure?" Luffy asked. "We bought lots."

Marco ruffled the boy's hair. "This is plenty. Let's put this in the treasury-yoi. You'll have your own special spot for it, so no one will touch it."

Once the bags of treasure were put in the treasure room, the boys secretly came back and put one of their bags in the section clearly marked for the kitchen.

-*/-*/-*/

It was still dark out when the boys were tossed off their bed and onto the wooden floor in a tangle of limbs. They heard the pounding of footsteps outside their door and a few people yelling out muffled orders.

"Ugh, what happened?" Ace asked as he rubbed the back of his head with one hand, the other holding Luffy close to his chest.

"Sounds like a storm," Sabo grunted from under both of his brothers. "Think you guys can get off me? Please? I can't breath."

Ace yelped, not realizing he was sitting on this brother, and quickly stood up with Luffy in his arms. "Sorry. A storm, huh? I've heard storms in Grand Line are different than what we usually saw at Dawn. I kinda want to see it."

"Me too." Sabo then turned to give his brother a grin. "Wanna go check it out?"

Sabo quietly opened their door, and they poked their heads out to see some dripping wet crew members grumbling and walking back to their sleeping quarters, while a few dry ones ran past to take over their post in protecting the ship from the storm. There was a loud grumbling sound from all around before the ship lurched, causing Sabo to lose his grip on the door handle and the three of them soon were rolling out into the corridor.

"What are you boys doing out here-yoi?" Marco asked from where he stood in front of his own bedroom door, with a Den Den Mushi in his hand.

"We, uh, wanted to see the storm?" Sabo said sheepishly.

"Never seen a Grand Line storm before, then-yoi?" The First Division Commander chuckled at the two older boy's enthusiastic nods. He gave a quick command to someone at the end of the Den Den Mushi before telling the boys to go back to their room. "It's not safe out here. Maybe once you boys are stronger and older you can experience it. For now, just go back to your room and hold on to something. The waves are so erratic that even I have to stay in the cabin. Devil Fruit users and the sea don't get along." He gave them a wink.

The boys noticed Jozu and Blamenco were also out in the hall giving orders through their Den Den Mushi.

"Where's Whitebeard?" Ace asked. Probably in his room like the other fruit users.

Before Marco could answer, the ship tilted, sending everyone stumbling to catch their footing and grabbing anything secure to keep them from sliding to the other end of the hallway. Marco cursed himself for forgetting to grab the children as they quickly slid downward towards the opening at the other end.

"Stop those kids!" he shouted to everyone below him. Seeing the screaming kids frantically trying to grab all the out stretched hands unsuccessfully, Marco let go of his door frame and transformed himself to fly towards the kids, who were now nearing the end of the corridor and heading out to the back deck where no one was posted. All helping hands were manning the front or up securing the sails. Luckily, someone was able to grab Luffy before he made it out. All that was left were the two older boys.

He tucked his wings close to his body and dived. He internally cheered when he was able to grab Ace's shirt in his beak, with Ace holding Sabo's hand in both of his. By this time the ship was back to its horizontal position. Moments later, a wave came crashing towards them, causing Marco to turn back to his human self.

He landed on deck, back first and got the wind knocked out of him. "You boys all right?" Marco asked after getting his breath back.

"Sabo," Ace coughed up some water, then started to look around frantically, while still being clutched by Marco. "Sabo? Where's Sabo?"

"Ace, Ace! Calm down-yoi," Marco said as Kingdew and Fossa came to help them back to the cabins.

"The waves took him," Fossa said. "Bekky jumped in after him, and Namur followed."

"Did you hear that Ace-yoi? Namur went to get them. Sabo will be fine. Calm down-yoi," Marco said as he struggled to keep the boy from escaping his hold to dive in after his brother. Bekky, his right-hand man, was a great swimmer, and with Namur also out there, Marco was sure that they would all come back safely.

The whole ordeal lasted only a few minutes, and the storm only lasted five. Soon the sky was clear and sunny again. Everyone poured out of the cabin to check on the commander and the boy once the storm was done. As soon as Luffy saw his brother, he twisted his way out of the arms that were holding him and ran to jump on his brother's back.

"Luffy?" Ace said, startled out of his chant of Sabo's name. "You okay?"

"Mm!" he buried his face in Ace's neck. "Sabo's okay. Sabo's coming back."

Seeing that Ace had calmed down with Luffy on his back, Marco placed the boys back on the ground and followed them as Ace walked towards the rail where Luffy was pointing. After a few seconds of not seeing anything, Ace became restless and started bouncing on his feet and resumed his chant.

The rest of the crew that weren't manning the ship and getting it back on course were on the back deck waiting for their brothers to come back. They all cheered once they caught sight of Bekky and Sabo riding Namur, coming their way.

"SaboSaboSaboSaboSabo! SABO!" Ace reached his arms out over the rails, wanting to be with his brother as soon as possible.

Marco had to place a hand on the overly excited boy to keep him from falling overboard. He and the others around him smiled at the sight of how happy the boy was, while completely ignoring the way Luffy was kicking excitedly at his sides.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

A/N: I feel like I forgot something somewhere. I'm always second guessing myself when I post a new chapter.

Critiques welcomed. Please tell me what I need to work on. Is my English bad? Do you see errors? I've gone through each chapter at least five times, and I find something wrong every time. (⊙﹏⊙✿) What do you like about this story? What do you not like? Is it lame? Seeing as I have this story already completed (I just need to type it up, edit, and post), I'm not sure if I can change much, but I can see what I can do.

To my Guest reviewer: This story is just the ASL growing up with Whitebeard Pirates. I'm still thinking if I want to do canon later or not. It'll depend on if there will be enough interest for it with this Luffy?